Visions of a Dark Mind
by Ilue Pooh
Summary: Small Lady goes blind at the age of 13 due to an enemy attack. Five years later, she's learned how to live with her blindness - but when she finds a secret power locked away inside of herself, a journey to restore her sight is begun.


NOTE: I refer to Chibi-Usa in this story as "Small Lady", since the story is set in Crystal Tokyo. According to the Japanese anime, Chibi-Usa was only called such in the past.  
  
Visions of a Dark Mind  
Chapter One  
  
The open window sent a ripple of warm breeze throughout the stagnant air of the room, and the young woman raised her head to meet it and let it caress her smooth cheeks. Standing up, she moved over to the window to lean her head out of it and listen to the hustle and bustle of the city below her. The sky was crisp and clean, with just a few lacy clouds dotting it, and the season of autumn had left the trees blazed with vibrant colors of red, orange, and yellow. The woman couldn't see this, though. She could only enjoy the wind on her cheeks.  
  
The young woman was blind. And she closed her sightless eyes to remember.  
  
FIVE YEARS AGO  
  
The crowd of guests at the ball was thick, and Small Lady carefully wove her way through them, experienced in doing this. She nodded to the curtsies and bows that she received, keeping her eye on her target – the two thrones on which her parents sat.  
  
"Mama, Papa...I'm not feeling too well," the princess complained, her hand at her stomach. Her parents exchanged a glance. They both knew that their daughter hated these events, and was always trying to get out of them. "May I go up to my room for the night, please?"  
  
"Small Lady, I don't like these events anymore than you do," Neo- Queen Serenity shared with a slight wink. "But I know as well as you do that we both need to attend these balls. Besides, its a very good experience for you to witness them. Many treaties and alliances can be forged during balls. They're a very good time for socializing between kingdoms."  
  
The princess nodded, knowing this already. Ever since returning from the past three years ago, her training as a sailor senshi completed, her mother had begun to instruct her in the ways of royal duties.  
  
"Mama, I know, and I'm sorry. But I honestly do not feel well at all." Small Lady wasn't lying. Her stomach felt like it was twisting and turning in her body, and her back had began to ache, as well. She attributed her pains to the tight dress she was laced into, and desperately wanted to slide into her comfortable pajamas in her room.  
  
The queen and king looked at each other and shrugged. "We won't force you to stay," her father replied, his kind eyes looking down at her. "You may go up to your room for the night."  
  
Small Lady broke out into a smile. "Thank you." She gave each parent a kiss on the cheek before turning around to head for the stairs.  
  
King Endymion and Neo-Queen Serenity watched their daughter's retreating back. "She is turning into a beautiful woman," her father said proudly, and her mother nodded in agreement. The princess was at the blossoming age of thirteen, and her body was finally beginning to mature into what she had always desired to be – a true lady. Her figure had taken on curves; two swells appearing on her chest, her waist slimming down into an hourglass shape, her knees losing their knobbiness. Her glowing pink hair, which had never been cut, had grown out to her waist, and was on its way to being as long as her mother's own blond locks.  
  
However, she still had that awful teenage awkwardness, still not used to her newly developed body, and her parents both winced as they watched Small Lady stumble and trip on her long dress as she was climbing the stairs. The graceful way of carrying herself would come with age.  
  
Then they turned their attention back to their guests, and time slipped by quickly.  
  
===============================================================  
  
Small Lady trembled in the corner of her room, in her rumpled pajamas. She had seen it as soon as she pulled her dress off – the red stain on her panties. She was bleeding, and she was scared. But she didn't know what to do. Should she go tell her mother? Why was she bleeding from...that place?  
  
No one had ever told the princess about menstruating. It wasn't forgotten on purpose, but Neo-Queen Serenity, in her worries of her daughter being trained in the ways of sailor senshi and royal duties, had simply neglected to do so.  
  
Small Lady wasn't sure what she should do – she was too embarrassed to tell her mother that she was bleeding from that place. But at the same time, she was frightened that she could bleed to death...more tears leaked out from her eyes.  
  
Suddenly there came a knock on the door, and Small Lady jumped up, quickly rearranging her rumpled pajamas. "Yes?" she called, wiping the tears off her face.  
  
"Small Lady, it's me," came the warm, familiar voice of Sailor Pluto. The princess suddenly smiled, reassured. She knew she could tell Puu anything.  
  
The door opened and Pluto stepped into the room. "I came to make sure you were in bed..."The senshi stopped short. "Why, Small Lady, what's the matter?" she then asked, noticing the tears still smeared on the young girl's face.  
  
"Puu...something is wrong with me," the princess began, somewhat hesitantly. "I'm bleeding."  
  
Pluto instantly got a look of concern in her eyes. She walked over to the girl quickly. "How badly?" she asked, looking Small Lady's body over. "I don't see any cuts or gashes, though."  
  
"Well...."  
  
All of the sudden, an explosion rocked the palace, lurching Small Lady off balance. Pluto instantly grabbed her as the window shattered, shielding the princess' body with her own.  
  
"Puu, what's going on?!" Small Lady shrieked, clinging to the senshi. The palace abruptly stopped shaking, and an eerie silence overtook the air.  
  
"I'm not sure. You stay here. Do not move from this room!" Pluto ordered, her voice harsh and worried. She gave Small Lady a quick hug before standing up and rushing out the door.  
  
The princess watched her go, her eyes once more leaking out tears. She was incredibly frightened by everything. She still wasn't sure if she was bleeding to death or not, and now this attack? Something like this hadn't happened since Wiseman attacked Crystal Tokyo, many years back.  
  
She crept up to the window, slowly peeking her head out. The explosion had apparently been aimed at....the throne room? Where the ball was?!  
  
"Mama! Papa!" Small Lady whispered, her heart struck with fear. What Puu had told her to do instantly vanished in her mind.  
  
She raced out the open door.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Dun dun dun! What will happen next? Well, let me fill you in a little. In the next chapter, we'll finish the story of how Small Lady went blind, and then return back to the present, where she is eighteen and living without seeing. The plotline will develop from there. I hope you follow along with my story. Expect the next installment soon! =) 


End file.
